Sword Arte Online EX
by lokey478
Summary: Trapped in the world of SAO EX Naruto must work with new and old friends to beat the game and return to the real world where they really belong.
1. Chapter 1

Sword Arte Online EX 01

[Inner monologue]

This game it was released to the mass public mostly in japan but a few other places like America and some countries in Europe also received copies. It was touted as the ultimate RPG experience one that no other game on the market could ever match up to.

What helped the game was its use of the NervGear allowing people who played the game the full sensation of actually experiencing everything that went on in the game. All in all a million copies of Sword Arte online EX were produced and shipped to all locations and once news of the game hit magazines its popularity exploded, with game stores running out of copies within an hour of opening their doors.

And to add onto the experience 1000 people were given the extremely fortunate luck of becoming the first people to play the game. Their comment?

"This game is something that will revolutionize the way games are played from now on!"

"The environment, the scenario and music no matter what it is this game did not disappoint."

"This game shows off how a VRMMORPG should work with it encouraging players to team up instead of going solo."

"The weapon's in the game have variety and allows players to build their characters along dedicated skill trees and customization of weapons and outfits are beyond belief."

"This is an VRMMORPG that offers variety in battles."

To further add onto the hype the game box was final released to the public eye and the only thing on the box was the words Sword Arte online EX outlined in green on the front and the words Prepare for a Revolution also outlined in green on the back and all of it was on a black box.

If that wasn't hype that made gamers happy then nothing could ever give them happiness.

If only people knew at that time what was going to happen once the game began.

[End inner monologue]

On November 2022 the day that Sword Arte Online EX (SAO EX) the world most advanced MMORPG the world had ever seen, for months Naruto had waited for the day that the game would come out after being one out of millions of people around the world that were accepted into the Beta-test and managed to experience the game before anyone else.

And now he was one of the 500,000 gamers that owned a copy of the game, rushing home from the game store Naruto bounded up the stairs past his mother Kushina Namikaze and his father Minato Namikaze to get to his room as fast as he could so that he could start playing the game as soon as possible.

As soon as he was done with setting everything up and reading the manual not that he needed it since he already went through the Beta, he was about to put the NerveGear on his head when his mother came into his room. "Naruto, I want you down at the table for dinner at 6 alright."

"Don't worry Kaa-chan I'll be down at 6." laughed Naruto as his mother walked back downstairs chuckling. "Boys and their game."

"Alright let's do this." Lying down on his bed, he activated the NerveGear. "Link start!" 'Touch, ok'

'Sight, ok'

'Hearing, ok'

'Taste, ok'

'Smell, ok'

'Five senses check complete.'

'Language: Japanese'

'Account name: Naruto

'Password: *******

Character creator:

Beta-test character data is still available.

Would you like to use it?

Naruto (M)

Yes/No

'Snap Pivot' skill earned.

...Welcome to Sword Arte Online EX

In a display of muti-colored lights Naruto's avatar appeared in the town of beginnings where a bunch of other characters had also appeared, Naruto stood out among them with the clothing that he received from the beta.

As for his appearance it looked like him cause after all if this was the ultimate VRMMORPG then he wanted to experience it as himself.

Smiling he made a dash through the town of beginnings where people who had logged in were doing business with NPC's that were programmed to act like real people.

Finally he arrived at the inn where Naruto remembered you could pick up quests, unless of course they changed things around.

Stepping in he heard a tinkling noise and walked up to the front desk where the innkeeper was.

"Hi there what can I help you with today?" She asked as a small menu came up listing options.

Naruto picked the quest option and the innkeeper presented him with a couple of quests options, it was mostly fetch quests for items.

Naruto scrolled through some and saw one that interested him. "New player looking for quest partner to help." And then Naruto remembered that the game did encourage people to pair up when going on quests.

So he accepted that one and raced towards the location where the other player was waiting.

[At the forest off to the side from the plains]

Naruto arrived at the location and looked around for his partner he should be able to find said person which was when he heard the clashing of sword against monsters.

"Ahhh!" The voice screamed out as said person was knocked down.

Turning the corner Naruto finally saw what the person looked like and he blushed.

The other person was a girl she had lavender hair that fell to her shoulder, she wore a lilac color strapless dress with a black piece of fabric going across the breasts and down to her stomach, below an intricate coat it kinda resembled the clothes he received from the beta which only made him wonder why she was having such trouble playing.

Shaking his attention away from the girl he noticed that the boar she was fighting was preparing to charge at her. "Watch out!" Naruto yelled out as he dashed forward and caught the girl by her collar.

At the last moment possible he back stepped and his 'snap pivot' skill activated making him side step and appear behind the boar with the girl.

"Palm strike!" Naruto called as he hit the boar with his palm sending it tumbling forward, dashing forward towards the boar Naruto decided to finish the fight.

"Cerebus strike!" Punching the boar Naruto delivered one kick that kept it airborne before finishing it with a kick that spun him around to face the girl while the board shattered into data and money, exp and items earned were given out.

'Heh looks like I haven't lost it.' Naruto internally thought as he accepted the item he received from killing the boar.

"Thank you!" The girl screamed out as she walked forward and bowed to Naruto who nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Um yeah don't mention it uh..."

"Oh right um I'm called Strea and I guess you must be the one who accepted my inn request. Thank you."

"Um yeah and I'm Naruto don't worry about it..." Strea further blushed when she heard Naruto's name and started to finger her skirt in a shy manner.

"So based on the quest we should be hunting boars to collect tusks right?" Strea nodded in response to Naruto's question and so they decided to direct-link with each other.

Direct-linking was a system in which two players would basically be able to fight opponents simultaneously though it did come at the expense of earning less exp and col but here it was much faster than going alone and safer since Strea didn't seem to be able to handle herself fully yet.

Strea explained that she had the clothes from the beta test because she was a beta-tester like Naruto but she didn't actually get to play the game because her family was moving back to the city.

As the both of them hunted boars Naruto explained the mechanics of the combat system to Strea but since Strea was using a two handed curved sword Naruto could only help her so much.

"Alright Strea how the game works is that the combat system recognizes the movement patterns of the player and if done correctly then you'll perform the attack. Best way I found out how to start is with this." Naruto picked up a pebble. "Now all you need to do is throw the pebble like so!"

Naruto held his stance for a second before releasing the pebble that looked as though it was glowing, the pebble flew forward and hit the tree shattering upon impact. "There just like that now why don't you try?" Naruto tossed a pebble to Strea to let her take the stage.

'Alright Strea just do what Naruto did and it'll turn out alright.' Strea held her stance for a second before releasing her pebble however instead of hitting the tree like Naruto's her pebble just kinda plopped to the ground a little bit in front of her.

Naruto broke out laughing at how that went which made Strea blush and puff her lips out. "Naruto..." She said through gritted teeth as she picked up a bunch of pebbles and started to pelt them at Naruto whose eyes widened and ran away.

"Oi Strea lets not do this right now!"

"Oh why not after all I do need to get better at doing this right?!" Strea yelled back as she continued to pelt Naruto with failing rocks until finally she did something right and a pebble shot past Naruto and shattered itself against a tree.

"Hey look you finally got it right Strea!" Strea stopped in her tracks and tried it again this time she achieved another hit that shattered the pebble.

"Yay! I finally did it!" Strea ran forward and hugged Naruto who blushed.

"Um Strea..." Strea realized what she was doing and so she released Naruto.

"Oh um I'm sorry Naruto..." She apologized as the two of them just kinda stood there awkwardly...

"Yeah you know why don't we head back to the inn and turn in the quest." Naruto suggested.

"Um yeah we should do that." Strea replied as the both of them made their way back to inn.

[At the inn]

Both Naruto and Strea turned in their quests and as they walked by a few tables the guys seated there turned their heads and pointed at Strea for her unusual outfit but thankfully Naruto egged her forward.

"Don't mind them you'll find those kind of people all over the place." Naruto replied as he called for the innkeeper.

"Yeah...I guess so huh?" Naruto nodded before turning back to the innkeeper and turning in their quest, and once they received their reward they made their way out of the inn and into the streets.

"So now what are you going to do Strea?"

"Um well I'm not too sure I mean there just seems to be so much to do...Though I wanted to ask-" However before Strea could finish what she was about to say they and everyone around them were enveloped by a blue light as the sound of bells rang somewhere in the town.

When the light faded they found themselves in the main arena of the town of beginnings along with hundreds of other people who were teleporting in as well looking just as confused as to what they were doing there.

"Hey what's going on?"

"Did you use a teleport crystal?"

"Hey everyone look up something is happening!" Looking up everyone saw the sky turn red before some kind of goop began dripping down into the shape of a ball and it finally formed the shape of an enormous man dressed in a red colored robe.

"Players of Sword Art Online welcome to my world, I am Kayaba Akihiko and at this moment I am the only person that can control this world."

Murmurs were going all around, "Is this some kind of special entrance ceremony?"

"I think that most of you have discovered that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug, it is all part of Sword Arte Online EX's system." Many players here had questions marks over their head.

"And until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will, also the disruption or dismantling of the NerveGear from the outside is strictly forbidden.

"If these things are attempted..." Silence was heard throughout the plaza to try and get his point across as everyone waited for the next part of his speech.

"The signal sensors in your NerveGear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse destroying your brain and thus killing your bodies in the real world." As people took in his words muttering could soon be heard among the crowd.

"That can't be true right?" a player asked his friend but his friend was too stunned to do anything.

"It is true but rest assured, disconnection from an outside source of an electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the game for more than two hours or any attempt to unlock, dismantle or destroying the NerveGear are the only way the brain destruction sequence will start, at the moment the government and public all over the country have been alerted of this through the media but sadly even with the reports, many relatives and friends have ignored the warning and tried to forcefully remove the NerveGear. The result..." the figure brought his hand up as many blank screens appeared in the sky.

"Regrettably 513 players have already exited this game and the real world forever." All of the many screens in the sky showed people crying, stretchers being carried out covered with a white sheet and news stations running the report of the deaths.

"Thi-this can't be true!"

"But do not fear players about your bodies on the other side, as I've said before this incident is being reported across all forms of media including the deaths that have been caused, the danger of having the NerveGear taken off of you has all but disappeared. At this very moment many of you are being transported to hospitals or similar facilities that will take care of your bodies, so you can relax and concentrate on beating the game. From this moment forward Sword Art Online is no longer a game but it is now a second reality, a second world that you inhabit and like the real world and just like the real world the moment your HP reaches zero. Your avatar will be lost forever and your brain will be destroyed by the NerveGear..."

In Naruto's mind he ran this through his head. 'The monster!'

"The only way to be free from my world will be to beat all one hundred floors of Aincrad and defeat the final boss that awaits you there once done all players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game, this I promise. And for those of you that are still skeptical of the reality of the situation, then I present to you the one gift that will show you reality that I have created, please accept it."

Soon the plaza was filled with the sounds of ringing bells as items screens were opened and the gift was received.

[Hand mirror]

Make into an object

Yes/No

Immediately a tinkling sound was heard as a mirror appeared in the players hands, looking into it everyone could only see their reflection, as they looked into the mirror a white light flashed and covered every single player in the plaza when the light cleared everyone looked around and was surprised by their appearance.

Naruto and Strea looked at each other surprised that their appearance did not change.

"That is all I have to say to you, finish the game and you all shall be free that is my promise to you..." Kayaba announced before his body faded leaving all the remaining players in the arena.

3, 2, 1...Screams, yells and shout of "Let us out!" were heard all over the arena and Strea had fallen to her knees fear of dying had overtaken her body leaving her immobile.

"Strea!" Naruto called out as he tried to shake her out of her stupor. "C'mon we have to get out of here before we get run over."

"..."

"Damn it!" Cursed Naruto as he got Strea on his back and exited the town center making his way towards his inn so that he could get Strea out of trouble who knows what would happen now that all hell had broken loose.

Walking through the backstreets of the town of beginnings, the inn was finally within sight but before Naruto could exit the alleyway a group of guys appeared in his path, skidding to a stop Naruto carefully glanced at them and he noticed that they were the same bunch of people who had made weird calls to Strea earlier.

With their weapons Naruto knew that they were not going to have good intentions.

"What are you guys doing blocking the way? I mean c'mon can't a guy just get his friend to safety I mean after all that at the center of town I think we just really need to get a break right?" Commented Naruto in as casual tone as he could muster.

"Alright enough with the joking why don't you just drop the girl all we want is her." Naruto eyes widened.

"What?! You guys can't be talking about-" Naruto looked back at Strea before carefully setting her down. "I won't let you do that! So c'mon you want her then why don't you come and get her?"

Naruto stepped forward and took his battle stance while the gang of players just laughed. "Heh well c'mon boys if this guy wants to play then let's play!"

The group charged in the first three met Naruto's fists as he raised his right hand and parried the sword of the first guy before punching him right in the side to finish him off Naruto knocked the first guy off his feet and bringing his leg around he also brought the second guy down.

Standing upright Naruto brought his palm straight down on the 2nd guy's nose.

The third guy tried to spear Naruto but missed and Naruto managed to catch his weapon, pulling on the spear Naruto brought the user closer to him and slammed his palm into his body sending the wielder bouncing backwards towards his leader who stepped backwards.

"C'mon." Goaded Naruto as he used the 'come at me sign'.

"Heh ahhhh!" The leader screamed out as he turned tail and ran away along with the rest of his goons.

Sighing depressingly Naruto finally noticed that his status had changed from green to orange, ignoring it for the moment he picked up Strea once again and made his way into the inn where he got a room and placed Strea on the bed before collapsing to the ground.

He was tired so very tired...and in a quick sudden he quickly found himself unconscious.

[Later]

Naruto had fallen asleep as night soon came over the town of beginnings and those who wanted to move on had already done so the only people left in the town of beginnings who could not move on for the fear of death.

Strea woke up earlier than Naruto and she found herself on the bed with Naruto laid out on the ground he was still unconscious, which was when she realized it wasn't a dream...This was all real and if she died here then she would never wake up again.

She saw her sword and picked it up, she closed her eyes and hoped that it would not hurt very much and she plunged it down onto herself.

She waited for the explosion of pain from the stab but it never happened as when she opened her eyes she saw Naruto holding onto the sword just before it reached her body.

"Strea what are you doing?" Naruto yelled out as he slapped the sword away from her hands.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Strea yelled out through teary eyes. "I'm scared Naruto! I'm so scared..."

"Yeah but there is no reason to kill yourself! Have you thought about your family in the real world? How would they feel if you killed yourself?!"

"I-I..."

"Listen to me you're scared I know but you shouldn't kill yourself...there is hope that we'll get out of here all we need to do is beat the floors and then we can escape."

"Escape? Beat the 100 floors Naruto are you listening to yourself? There are 100 floors the beta-testers could only reach floor 6 before they couldn't continue any further so what hope do we have!" Strea screamed out.

"I know how it seems 100 floors it seems impossible right?" Naruto replied in a soft tone. "But trust me when I say this we'll get out of here I promise!"

Strea looked up at Naruto who had hope burning in his eyes and in her mind she remembered one thing an old friend told her. 'Trust me Strea-chan I won't let anything happen to you!'

Strea wiped her tears away and nodded. "Alright Naruto I-I'll trust you."

"Alright then it seems like we should get a move on huh? We'll need to start grinding for exp if we're going to fight on the front lines.

Strea nodded and sheathed her blade before moving out with Naruto.

[1 month later]

For 1 month the inhabitants of SAO EX had eventually settled into their daily routine. At first only a few hundred players were even trying to defeat the floor boss and move on but with each floor that was conquered more and more players came to the side to try and reach the hundredth floor.

So much so that the top players organized guilds, on the 4th floor players saw the appearance of what was called the Aincrad Liberation Force (ALF) it was composed a large number of players wearing identical uniforms their motto was 'Never fall before the enemy!' and that was just what they did for a number of floors the ALF were the guild to watch for.

That was until they met a huge loss against a boss which reduced their numbers, after that the ALF was never the same again as it was soon overshadowed by the Knights of the Blood Oath and the Divine Dragon Alliance.

The Knights of the Blood Oath were far more coordinated than the ALF, their motto? 'By our blood the enemy shall fall!'

And as for the Divine Dragon Alliance they were more focused on taking care of their own people thus making them one of the bigger guilds that no one liked, their motto was 'We shall devour the enemy like a dragon's breath!'

And the very last guild that had caught the attention of the public was one called the Black Iron Legion to describe them was impossible by itself as the rumor went that the Black Iron Legion guild had originally formed from a splinter remnant of the ALF due to differing views on how to handle the situation.

Most of the ALF wanted to move forward abandoning the players left in the earlier levels while the Iron Legion splinter wanted to move forward helping everyone no matter what that split the entire ALF down the middle and the Black Iron Legion commander eventually beat the leader of the ALF for the command center of the Black Iron palace.

With a change of uniform the Black Iron Legion was ready to unleash themselves onto the world of SAO EX.

[Floor 7 Play Swordland]

"Charge!" With a rousing battle cry all players of the raid party charged forward towards the minions of the boss of the floor.

"Rargh!" The Iron Golem roared commanding its minions forward.

The frontline players met the minions head on with bravery and courage tearing through their ranks.

In the front were Naruto and Strea the both of them trained hard and were now on the front lines.

"C'mon!" Encouraged Naruto as he pointed to the Iron Golem when the final minion went down. "Get the boss!"

"Yeah!" Players charged forward but the Iron Golem swung its weapon sending a huge shockwave blasting all the players back this included Naruto who got blown back.

"Naruto are you alright?" Strea asked as she blocked a respawned minion with her sword and killed it before helping Naruto up.

"Yeah!" Taking a look around Naruto saw the injured players getting attacked by respawning minions. "Everyone fall back!"

Players started to get pushed back which was when a strong and authoritative voice rang out from the entrance.

"Black Iron Legion Forward!" The sound of metal greaves were soon heard as men in black iron armor ran forward and using their shields placed side by side they formed a human metal shield before the retreating players.

"No way it's the Black Iron legion." Strea commented as she and Naruto fought off monsters.

"March forward!" Their commander ordered which was when Naruto and all the players noticed something about the commander in the center he wore a cape with the emblem of the black iron legion on it.

"No way it's the commander of the Black Iron Legion Oscar!"

The Black Iron Legion marched forward slowly bit by bit they pushed the monster minions back to itself.

"Steady steady..." Their commander ordered as they held their positions against the charging minions who attacked their shields.

"Break!" Their commander ordered as within an instant they switched their weapons to hold their swords with both hands.

Members of the Black Iron Legion instantly charged through the minions with crushing blows they defeated the minions in an instant before Oscar stood face to face with the giant iron golem.

With his cape billowing in the wind Oscar drew both his greatsword and black iron shield and stepped up to face the Iron Golem alone.

"No way Oscar is going to face the Iron Golem alone?" Commented Naruto as he helped the Black Iron Legion fight of respawning monsters.

Oscar held his shield in front of himself and circled the Iron Golem who stood waiting for Oscar to make the first move, in an instant Oscar shouldered his shield and charged the Iron Golem with only his greatsword.

The Iron Golem roared when it saw this and shot a shockwave towards Oscar who raised his sword to block it only getting pushed back a little bit.

"Rargh!" Oscar roared out as he slashed the Iron Golem's knee sending it tumbling back.

"Go commander Oscar go for it!" Everyone cheered.

Oscar turned his blade around once more slashed the Iron Golem again sending it falling to the ground stunned.

"This is over!" Oscar held his sword pointed at the Iron Golem and charged everyone watching cheered him on, just before he reached the Iron Golem two more minions respawned and attacked him.

Shrugging off the attacks Oscar slashed the two in half before running up the Iron Golem's leg his sword cutting through the armor on the Iron Golem further damaging it.

As he came within distance of the Iron Golem Oscar pointed the tip of his sword at the Iron Golem and ran it straight a hole on his head that was its weakness.

The Iron Golem could be heard crying out once in defeat before it exploded into shards awarding players their rewards.

[End song]

Once done commander Oscar raised his sword into the air and proclaimed. "Victory!"

"Yeah!" Cheered everyone who was still standing.

With victory on this floor assured commander Oscar immediately ordered his troops to begin helping the wounded and once they were done they continued on to the next level.

"See Strea I told you back then all we need is some hope and everything will turn out alright."

"Yeah Naruto you were right." Strea replied as she brushed a lock of her hair away and the both of them continued onto the next floor where even more dangers were waiting for them.

Chapter end

So that was it just a very basic 1st chapter that you could probably recite off the top of your head but things will only change once we hit chapter 4 there is going to be a new element brought in, and if you haven't noticed this is not your regular SAO storyline.

In case you want to know the Black Iron Legion is modelled after the Black Iron armor from Dark Souls and Strea also comes from the psp game SAO: Infinity moments. Naruto in this version is going to be modelled after Jude.

So with that said please leave me some nice reviews. They tell me how the content of the story is and at the end of the day I want these response so that I can deliver better content for you. And if you have any questions then please don't hesitate to ask though if they spoil the story then I'm afraid I can't answer them.


	2. Chapter 2

Sword Arte Online Ex 02

[Floor 16]

It had been almost two weeks since the fight against the Iron Golem, it had been almost a week since Commander Oscar left the front lines after clearing the 15th floor to welcomes new trainees back at the Black Iron Palace.

In his place he left a recruit called Tarkus in charge of the 1st Legion, Tarkus seemed surprise by Oscar's choice of commander as did another soldier called Lautrec.

Lautrec argued that Tarkus was too 'fresh' to take command of the 1st Legion and even Tarkus said that he didn't want to take command of the 1st Legion.

However Oscar placed a hand on Tarkus's shoulder and said to him. "Tarkus I know that you think of yourself of yourself as a newcomer but I trust you more than I trust Lautrec so please take command of the 1st Legion in my place."

Tarkus reluctantly nodded and accepted command of the 1st Legion, his first mission was to help with the clearing of the 16th floor.

Naruto and Strea walked into the boss room alongside the 1st battalion and a bunch of guilds.

"Alright gentlemen! You know what to do get in there and kill'em all!" A guild leader yelled out rousing his members into their 'battle' mode.

Tarkus roused his troops and they clashed their shields together. "Alright then let's move in!"

Black Iron Legion took point as they walked into the boss room that lit up when the first player's foot touched the ground of the boss room.

The place was filled with spiders that rushed forward and clashed against the shields of the Black Iron Legion.

"Hold! Stand firm!" Tarkus ordered as they held their stance.

"Everyone else charge!" The other players charged forward around the wall of Black Iron Legion members and began to fight off the spiders.

The sound of swords clashing, spears being thruster forward and the screeching of spiders getting killed filled the air.

Naruto linked up with Strea and they tore through the spiders with Naruto using his snap pivot ability to get behind a spider and switched targets to another spider while letting Strea take care of the original target.

"Break!" Ordered Tarkus as the Black Iron Legion broke out of their iron wall formation and joined the battle with their mighty great swords.

Soon the number of spiders began to die down and all players reached the end of the room where the door was still mysteriously locked.

"What's going on?" One player asked much to his and everyone's confusion.

Suddenly all players heard a skittering sound and once again took formation as they looked all around them for the source of the noise.

As players broke off into groups one player accidentally stepped into a puddle that wasn't there previously. "Huh? What's this?" Reaching down he wiped his boot, only to find out the puddle was some kind of muck.

"What the?" something hit his head and he slowly looked up to find himself staring into the fangs of a giant spider.

"Ahhh!" The player screamed but before he could runaway the spider picked him up and killed him.

Everyone turned to the direction of the screams but were almost blown back by the spider landing on the ground.

Players were all splayed out in various manner of disarray.

"Half of the men help the wounded the rest charge and form the wall!" Ordered Tarkus with his men nodding however defiant as always Lautrec had something to prove.

"Screw that I'm going for the boss!" Picking up his shield Laurtrec placed it up in favor of two handing his sword.

"Take this!" Lautrec cried as he closed the distance between him and the spider boss.

"Lautrec stop! Follow my order and fall back to protect the injured players!" Tarkus yelled out but it was too late as Lautrec found himself fighting the spider boss and winning due to his brute strength.

[Floor 17 Town of the Great Plains]

Naruto and Strea had arrived in town just as everyone in the frontlines did and thankfully as they were tired from all the fighting so before they left to their respective places to sleep, they had one more meeting where it was stated that they would be taking a one week break to rest as well as do whatever they needed to do.

Naruto and Strea did not have any objections due to the fact that they were only a two member team and needed the break just as much as the other members of the frontline.

So it was decided in a week those who wanted to go on the frontlines would organize and meet at the town gates and finally they were released the smaller guilds or teams trudged off their fatigue clearly shining through while the large guilds marched off keeping their façade of unwavering determination up so as to keep morale among other players up.

Naruto and Strea decided to crash at the inn where they knew a majority of the teams and smaller guilds were bunking while the larger guilds went back to their home bases to rest and rearm.

[In Naruto and Strea's room]

"Oh man I'm so tired." Naruto plopped down onto his bed and just barely managed to move his body into a straight position for better sleep.

"Yeah same here I never thought that we would be moving at such a fast pace." Noted Strea before she turned to Naruto. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?" Naruto replied looking over in her direction.

"Remember when Commander Oscar was acting as the frontline commander?"

Naruto wanted to scratch his head but didn't have the strength to lift his arm nor did he want to find the strength to do so. "Well which floor was it? Was it the one with the giant Kobold or the one with the griffin?"

"Both don't you remember we fought them one after another."

"Then yeah I remember why?" He asked.

"We weren't even that tired that day and we fought two bosses in almost three days' time huh?" Strea was now starting to sound a little sad.

"Yeah I know what you're trying to say Strea...the higher we go the more powerful each boss gets right?" Strea nodded.

"Don't worry about it we've got some pretty good people fighting so just don't think about it much you need rest...think about it too much and you'll never fall asleep." Naruto turned over and nodded off while Strea just stayed awake for a while longer there were so many things running through her mind.

'Just how does Naruto find the strength to stay so strong all the time...heh then again he has always been like that.' Thought Strea as the image of a small child protecting her child-self appeared in her mind.

"Hey Naruto? Can I ask you one last thing?" Strea whispered out just in case he had fallen asleep.

"Yeah but this will be the last thing tonight. So what is it Strea?" Naruto called back in a tired voice he had almost gone to sleep.

"Can we go shopping tomorrow? I want to buy a new weapon."

"Sure now go to bed if not we'll be too tired to go shopping tomorrow." Naruto fluffed his pillow a few times before falling asleep.

On Strea's side she smiled before bringing the blanket up to cover herself.

[The next morning]

Naruto and Strea were about town and Strea had visited a few stores to see the weapons that they held, currently they were at a store owned by a player and Strea was trying to argue the price of forging a sword down which was when the sound of a sword clashing against a shield could be heard.

"What is going on?" Naruto asked as he and most other players turned their head.

"Everyone c'mon there's a fight going on in between the Black Iron Legion for control of the 1st Legion." A player yelled out as he ran past the stores.

'Huh? Just what is going on?" Naruto thought to himself as he and Stea ran towards the source along with a bunch of other players leaving the shopkeeper slightly angry at losing a paying customer.

At the source of the noise players from afar finally saw what was making the noise.

It was that Black Iron soldier Lautrec he was brandishing his great sword and sing it to beat up the temporary commander of the Black Iron Legion Tarkus.

"Just give it up Tarkus!" Mocked Lautrec as his great sword once again hit Tarkus's shield pushing him back. "You were always like this! Weak and pitiful! Always hiding behind me and looking to me for help. I don't even know why Commander Oscar put you in charge of the 1st Legion!"

Lautrec swung hard against Tarkus's shield finally breaking his guard and sending Tarkus tumbling backwards, however before Tarkus could recover Lautrec was already upon him cutting him down in the blink of an eye.

A buzzer sounded indicating that the dual between the two was over and Lautrec was the winner.

"Heh." Lautrec scoffed out in a rather mocking manner as he sheathed his sword. "Then by the terms of this dual I am the new and current commander of the 1st Legion and I say we move out today to search for the boss."

Some soldiers of the Black Iron Legion gripped their shields tight before forming ranks so that they could get to the stables where they would need horses to cross the Great Plains.

Other soldiers gathered Tarkus's shield and placed it next to him before joining the ranks of the rest and marched off leaving Tarkus in the dust to pick up his stuff and trudge off into town while the crowd slowly broke off.

Some were saying that Lautrec was right in fighting for the position of leader of the 1st Legion as Tarkus was not fit to lead the best fighters of the frontlines due to his more defensive nature on the battlefield.

Others argued that Tarkus was the perfect person to lead the 1st Legion due to his caring nature that was so similar to Commander Oscar's and that we was basically another version of Commander Oscar which was why he was put in charge of the 1st Legion in the first place.

But one thing everyone agreed upon was that Tarkus did not deserve the public humiliation that Lautrec gave him in front of so many players.

Naruto and Strea also looked at him with pitiful eyes but were unsure of how they could help except talking to Lautrec.

Naruto raced after Lautrec who had already secured the horses they would need to cross the Great Plains.

"Wait Lautrec I've got something to say to you!" Naruto yelled out getting Lautrec to turn and acknowledge Naruto.

"What is it? Lautrec demanded. "We do not have time to talk to you right now."

"Well then make time." Shot back Naruto. "What was that? Was that really necessary embarrassing Tarkus in front of everyone like that?"

"I have no clue what you were saying now if there is nothing else to talk about then I would appreciate it if you were to stand aside the 1st Legion and I have a boss hunt to start." Naruto gripped his hands in anger at being brushed off like that and could only watch as Lautrec rode off with the 1st Legion.

"So that how you are is it?" Questioned Naruto leading to Lautrec stopping in his place to get off his horse and roughly grab Naruto.

"What did you say?" Lautrec asked in a threatening manner.

"I said that's how it is isn't it? Can't fight or answer someone unless it's on your own terms huh? Was it the same for Tarkus?" Under his helmet Lautrec narrowed his eyes before he punched Naruto once sending Naruto tumbling to the dirt.

"Don't talk about me in that manner I am not Tarkus and just because I'm impulsive don't think that you can goad me into a fight." Lautrec dusted off his hands before walking back to his horse and leading his men away.

"Naruto are you alright?" Strea asked as she helped Naruto up.

"Yeah I'll be fine but we should get back to town and find Tarkus before he does anything dangerous."

"Yeah I agree but before we go." Strea looked around and found a rock, picking it up she threw it in the direction of Lautrec where it hit him with a 'clang'

"Ok now run!" Both Strea and Naruto ran away from the area laughing about what Strea had just done while leaving a fuming Lautrec reeling from the disrespect they showed him, not that the other soldiers minded giving a little chuckle here and there.

[With Naruto and Strea]

They ran all the way back to town laughing at what Strea did and when they were in the gate of town they stopped to take a breath.

"Wow Strea I didn't know that you had it in you to do something like that...Who taught you to be like that?" Naruto asked.

Strea just smiled. "It was an old friend."

[Flashback in her mind]

Child Strea was on the ground crying a bunch of kids had come up to her and bullied her for having lavender colored hair and saying how it didn't fit in.

But as she was walking away the lead kid was hit on the head with a rock, the children walking away and Strea turned around to see a child standing behind them a distance away he was bouncing another rock about the same size as the previous one in his hand.

"Hey who are you all to bully a girl?!" The kid asked.

[End flashback]

Strea was knocked out of her thoughts by Naruto who was tapping on her shoulder.

"So um Strea you want to go and look for Tarkus? We should find him before something bad happens to him." Strea nodded and they split up to look for said person.

Naruto and Strea searched for hours on end with no success they even asked players who were in town for help but they didn't see Tarkus anywhere.

[With Naruto]

He was looking around the pub area which was when he heard a clattering sound coming from the alleyway behind it, turning the corner he found who he was looking for, Tarkus.

Tarkus was stumbling around he had a bottle in hand and reeked of alcohol which surprised Naruto he never knew that SAO EX had alcohol and he played a lot of SAO EX when it was in its beta phase so maybe they changed something's before it hit the mass market.

"Tarkus..." Naruto went over to help Tarkus before he collapsed but Tarkus waved him away.

"What do you want?" He slurred out. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Yeah I do but you shouldn't be like this." Naruto shouldered Tarkus as he made the way back to the inn.

"Let me go!" Tarkus forced himself off of Naruto landing in a heap. "Why are you so insistent on helping me can't you see what you're doing is useless."

"Why am I helping you? Cause I don't think you're a failure..." Tarkus looked up at Naruto. "Yeah I heard what Lautrec said and I don't think you're useless you might be more defensive but I've seen you...you've got a caring heart and you helped to protect the players who were wounded on the 16th floor."

"So what!" He slurred out. "It's useless...being defensive isn't worth jack squat here..."

Tarkus was starting to stumble off when Naruto suddenly shouted. "So you're just going to walk away huh? I guess Lautrec was right you really are just useless."

"What did you say?" Tarkus roared out as he charged at Naruto and tackled him into the wall.

"Y-you heard what I said...your useless!" Tarkus growled and began to go to town on Naruto who tried to do his best to block Tarkus's strikes.

A few minutes later Tarkus physically and mentally tired collapsed to the ground, Naruto winced and collapsed to the ground his health had dropped a little not that he minded Tarkus had plenty of pent up anger.

Shouldering Tarkus Naruto got him back to his and Strea's room where he laid him out for rest.

During that time Naruto opted to bunk on the floor but Strea blushing told Naruto that he could bunk with her, they had a lengthy argument and surprisingly Naruto won so he had the honor of sleeping on the floor while Tarkus sobered up.

A day or two later Tarkus finally managed to sober up and he had thought things through and with some encouragement from Naruto he decided to go after Lautrec and fight once more for the position of leader of the 1st Legion but to do that they would need the horses.

At the horse stable the NPC in charge only had two horses so due to size Tarkus had to have one horse for himself which meant both Naruto and Strea had to go on one horse.

Naruto and Strea didn't know the way but Tarkus led them using his guild's guidance system, apparently some soldiers of the 1st Legion left a little bread crumb trail for Tarkus to follow.

So for the entire journey they galloped through the Great Plains eventually coming to a cliff where they saw a great ocean that seemed to go on forever.

"Wow it's really beautiful..." Gawked Strea as they slowed the horses down to a trot to take in the view. "...hey um Naruto why do you think Kayaba did what he did?"

"I don't know Strea all I know is this world is so real sometimes when I wake up I feel as though I'm in the real world..." Tarkus listened in and inside he agreed with Naruto he had those days waking up expecting to see his mother calling for him to wake up, having breakfast with them before going to class.

Now they and so many other players simply wished to return to those days instead of waking up to combat training, meetings on how to defeat the next boss all before going back to bed and starting the whole cycle again.

"Anyways we should move on before it gets dark we've only been here for a few days so we have no idea what comes out during the night." Tarkus and Strea agreed so they sped up to catch up to Lautrec.

Eventually after a few hours of riding Tarkus, Naruto and Strea arrived at the supposed location of the boss.

"So how should we take this?" Naruto asked.

"Well we could use the triple link system and I'll take point." Naruto and Strea agreed nod they linked together, it was strange how the link line between Naruto and Strea was green yet the line that came from Tarkus was blue.

"Alright then let's do this." Tarkus gripped his shield tight and took point while Naruto and Strea ran by his side making sure that no monsters were going to spawn and attack them and so far they were lucky monsters didn't spawn which meant that the 1st Legion had just come through here and some of its members must have used the true path system to lead Tarkus if he was going to rejoin them.

Boots were crunching against the ground before they finally arrived at the boss door where inside they could see members of the 1st Legion splayed about some of their health was dangerously low, the boss was an enormous demon that had blazing eyes of rage.

Lautrec could be seen trying to rally the remaining members who still had enough health to fight. "Stand and fight all of you! We have to beat this boss today!"

"No what is he doing can't he see that they need to fall back!" Tarkus rushed into the room and took charge of the situation. "All men fall back now! Those who have more health guard those that have less and make a coordinated retreat!"

The men nodded and fell back each member grabbing a person and pulling them out of danger, Lautrec turned to see his men falling back. "Where are you going? All of you would leave when there is fighting to be done!"

Lautrec turned to the boss and charged at the demon boss however he was easily swiped to the side where his shield and sword clattered to the side.

"Lautrec!" Tarkus ran into the room and got the attention of the demon boss.

"Tarkus!" Naruto and Strea ran into the room to help out Tarkus who was now blocking strikes from the demon with one more strike Tarkus was pushed back to Naruto and Strea's side.

"Don't worry Tarkus we're here to help." Naruto took out his knuckles and entered his combat pose while Strea took out her giant curved sword and pointed it at the demon boss.

Tarkus nodded and hefted his shield closer to his body while holding his great sword. "Yeah let's do this together!"

[Play Swordland 2nd half]

Naruto went in first and with his speed and agility he managed to get in a few hits damaging the boss while also dodging strikes from him, combined with Strea who was linked to him she went in and managed to connect some hits with the boss sending it tumbling backwards a little.

The demon boss roared out loud and tried to swipe them away however Naruto pulled himself and Strea back at the very last second which activated his snap pivot ability allowing him the chance to appear behind the demon boss while also allowing Tarkus a chance to run up and tackle the demon boss with his shield sending said boss tumbling backwards with a thunderous crash.

As the boss came crashing down Naruto and Strea saw the staggered icon for the boss come up.

"Tarkus! Now let's perform a triple attack!"

"Then let's do this!"

Strea charged forward first, she jumped into the air and cut off one of the demon bosses hair just as it stood up, the horn fell to the ground where it shattered into squares of light.

Now it was Tarkus's turn as he tackled the boss's side and using the continued force he swung his sword up cutting off the other horn and sending the demon boss tumbling backwards even more.

Finally Naruto dashed forward and using Tarkus as a jumping board Naruto jumped into the air where he spun a few turns before his leg lit up and he dove straight down for the demon's skull.

"Take this Final impact!" Naruto's heel dug into the demon bosses skul drinking it down into the ground where the floor beneath it cracked and the boss looked like its entire jaw was disjointed.

[End song]

The boss stayed down and soon burst in bits of light as a sign of the floor being cleared appeared.

The entire room broke out into cheers swords and shields raised into the air as some soldiers ran up to Naruto, Strea and Tarkus congratulating them on a job well done.

Tarkus and a couple of other guys lifted Naruto on their shoulders where he received a couple of high-fives and fist bumps.

Tarkus and guys let Naruto down where Tarkus looked down at Naruto. "Hey Naruto thanks for helping me out when I was down and out if it wasn't for you I don't think I would have come this far."

Naruto smiled and rubbed his nose before replying. "Heh don't mention it Tarkus now put it here." He put out his fist for Tarkus and underneath his helmet Tarkus smiled and they bumped fists together.

Clapping sound was heard as behind them was Commander Oscar he had some new recruits with him as well as Lautrec in chains.

"Commander!" Instantly the soldiers of the Black Iron Legion saluted which to Oscar simply waved it away.

"I saw what happened and I must say Tarkus." Oscar stuck his hand out for Tarkus. "This was why I picked you as leader for the 1st legion."

Tarkus took a swallow as he waited for Commander Oscar to continue. "See the legion is all about clearing the floors yes but I also created the guild to help players and that was you Tarkus. On the 16th floor you decided to help players fall back properly instead of just falling back so now I would like to ask you to take control of the 1st legion."

Tarkus was surprised by the words of commander Oscar but he looked over at Naruto and Strea his new found friends, they were smiling and it seemed as if they were asking him to go back to his old guild to take command.

Tarkus closed his eyes before he turned his back on Commander Oscar and walked over to Naruto and Strea's side.

Both of them were surprised by Tarkus's action. "I'm sorry commander Oscar but I feel like I belong somewhere else now." Tarkus placed a hand on his new friend's shoulders.

Oscar looked down sadly and nodded. "Very well then Tarkus the guild thanks you for your ability and dedication you have shown to the fight and we hope to see you some other time on the front line."

"You can bet on it." Tarkus replied.

"As for Naruto and Strea you have proven yourself excellent fighters so for what you did today I would like to award you two with honorary guild member positions it won't show up on your menu but it is the least I can do also-" Oscar opened his menu and sent an item to Strea and Naruto respectively.

Naruto and Strea received their items and saw that Oscar sent them a knuckle and curved sword respectively, materializing them Naruto found that his fist weapon was black iron but had a layer of monster scales for added defense as for Strea her curved sword was in almost the exact color for her outfit.

"Thank you for saving my guild members consider this payment for that."

"Um well don't mention it." Naruto and Strea replied.

"If you want to help out we do have some 'quests' that we need done to ensure the safety of players."

"Well sure we've got the time to handle it but not right now though cause we need some rest."

"Thank you and of course you deserve it after that fight." Oscar replied as the entire group walked towards the 18th floor and as they did so Naruto, Strea and Tarkus checked their menu but couldn't find the reward that they received from defeating the boss.

Items no...Weapons no until they checked their skills and found that each of them had a new skill but at the moment they had no idea what kind of skill it was, in the description was just garbled words that made no sense.

They were saddened that a glitch occurred but they still got the money and experience from defeating the boss.

**Chapter end**

**Next time we'll finally meet up with a familiar SAO character and explain what the glitches skill was.**

**Also in case you missed it this story is a major AU on the SAO side of things.**

**So with that said please leave me some nice reviews. They tell me how the content of the story is and at the end of the day I want these response so that I can deliver better content for you. And if you have any questions then please don't hesitate to ask though if they spoil the story then I'm afraid I can't answer them.**


	3. Chapter 3

Sword Arte Online Ex 03

[Floor 22]

Asuna Yuki had just woken up from a nightmare, in it she dreamed that she was in the real world and she was on the way to her school to check exam results.

In it she was so confident in her ability to be the top scorer only for it to come crashing down like the harsh reality she was currently in, her name wasn't on the board at all. It was all a daze as she walked home in her mind she saw images of people mocking her for playing a game.

Even her own mother said that the game was entirely responsible for everything. So Asuna woke up sweating, her sheets were all messed up indicating that she had moved around a lot in her sleep.

Staring at her hand before looking out the window. 'This place I'm still in the game...' Opening her menu Asuna saw that today was December 24.

'The exams results are being released today...but I'm stuck here in this game...' Thought Asuna before she picked herself up and got ready for the day by putting on her clothes, hooking her sword up to her belt and placing a heavy cloak on her shoulders to hide her identity.

Walking through the market place Asuna approached a bread seller and bought a loaf of bread for breakfast, as she ate the loaf of bread she thought about how she wanted to eat the food that her maid Saeko usually cooked.

When comparing the food that she made to the loaf she was currently eating, Saeko's food was warm and filled with love but this loaf was cold and hard.

As she ate the loaf she listened in to some of the conversation that was going on around her.

"So did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Another player asked.

"Well I heard that there is a secret logout button if you reach someplace in the forest."

Instantly this conversation reached the ears of Asuna who came forward. "Wait this logout button! Where is it?!"

"Um in the forest ruins."

Asuna was about to go off when another payer pulled her back. "Hey you shouldn't rush off like that I mean this could be a trap for all you know."

"I need to get back to the real world now." Asuna replied wresting her hand out of the player's hand.

"Gee what's so important that you gotta return today?" A different player at the table asked.

"The entrance exams results are being released today." Asuna coolly replied before walking away leaving the players at the table laughing.

[In the forest]

Asuna was looking through them for the ruins and she almost missed it if not for the fact that she had kept her eyes open.

Stepping up to the ruins Asuna stepped inside and found that it was another dungeon.

Fighting her way through the entire dungeon past monsters and traps she arrived in front of a large mass of darkness that she couldn't even see through.

"Wh-what is this?" she asked as she reached forward to touch the darkness.

As soon as her finger hit the darkness there were a pair of red eyes that flashed up and upon seeing that pair of eyes Asuna couldn't decide if she wanted to fight or run away leaving her completely frozen without a weapon drawn.

The bull demon swiped her with its enormous hammer sending her flying into a corner where she hit the wall and dropped to the ground.

She tried to reach for her weapon but she found herself paralyzed due to the weapon of the monster who was now slowly walking up to her.

Asuna closed her eyes and hoped that it wouldn't hurt too much, with the amount of health she had left she would never be able to take another hit like that.

"Shit hold on!" Someone cursed as Asuna suddenly felt herself being picked up by someone. "Don't worry I'll get you out of here so just hold on!"

The person adjusted Asuna onto his shoulders and started to run with the bull demon right on his tail, opening her eyes Asuna could see some features of the person who was carrying her. He had blonde hair not just blonde but bright blonde the kind that would stand out in a crowd.

Sidestepping to the side he barely dodged out of the way of the bull demon bringing its hammer down onto them, the sudden step and close encounter made Asuna scream out loud.

"Ah jeez keep the volume down please! Just cause we're in a game doesn't mean we still can't lose our sense of hearing, now hold on tight there is just a little bit more to go!" The teen sped up just as the bull demon started to catch up to them.

"Look there is the entrance!" Asuna pointed out.

"Grargh!" Roared out the bull demon as he jumped and prepared to slam his hammer down onto both Asuna and her savior.

"Watch out from behind!" Asuna cried out.

The teen noticed the shadow grow and dove for the entrance, and just as he exited the dungeon the bull demon's hammer came crashing down onto the floor behind them.

The teen landed in the sunlight of the dungeon and by accident when he landed he lost grip of Asuna sending her tumbling in another direction.

Both teens groaned with pain but Asuna more so since she was accidentally knocked into a tree.

The blonde teen shook his head to get rid of the shaken feeling he was having which was when he heard Asuna groaning in pain, running up to her he opened his inventory menu and brought out a vial of red and yellow liquid.

"Here drink this it'll help." The teen slowly lifted the vial up to her lips and Asuna slowly drank it healing both her health and paralysis.

"Thank you." Asuna thanked as the other teen stood up.

"Don't mention it, I'm Naruto."

Naruto stuck his hand out for Asuna to take hold of and she did so picking herself off the ground.

"You know you really shouldn't do that, if there is a rumor about a secret exit don't believe it." Asuna looked at Naruto with a questioning eye and slowly she inched for her sword.

"Woah I'm friendly here, just doing a small player quest for a guild master alright?" Asuna slowly removed her hand from her sword. "Yeah anyways we've taken the guy who told you about the secret escape so we shouldn't have to worry about him anytime soon."

"S-so it was all a lie huh?" Naruto sadly nodded before Asuna fell to her knees crying.

Naruto was taken aback by her actions but he had seen it before Strea was like that at the start of the game when all of them found out that they were stuck in the game world.

"Look don't worry about everything alright? The top guilds are trying their best to fight past all the bosses and we're doing our best at the moment."

"I just want out of the game! I hate this game I hate it!" Asuna screamed out loud.

"I know the feeling." Asuna stopped crying for the moment to hear Naruto. "This game its done things to all of us and I hate to admit it but I want to get out as well I don't want to wake up and the first thing I have to do is check my weapon status...but now that we're here we should make the most of what we've got. C'mon we should head back to town monsters come out often during the night."

Asuna decided to follow Naruto's advice and after introducing themselves to one another the both of them exited the forest without much trouble save for one or two monster encounters.

When they fought off the monsters Naruto noticed the movements of Asuna, she was a rapier user and they excelled in movement attacks. The kind where they move in quick and jump out quicker but Asuna she seemed to strike both quick and powerful.

"So Asuna where did you learn moves like that?" He asked as the both of them entered town.

"I just reacted according to the movement of the enemy it's nothing special."

"So like since today is Christmas Eve you wanna spend it with us?" Naruto asked making Asuna's eyes widen she didn't even remember that today was Christmas Eve. "It'll be great to spend some time with people even if we're strangers."

"Fine." Asuna replied as Naruto led her to a safehouse that had been rented out for Christmas.

"Hey I'm back!" Naruto called out.

Inside the room were various members of the Black Iron Legion laying about resting, a warm fireplace was built in the back of the home and in the center of it all was a beautiful Christmas tree that was being built by Strea with help from a couple other members of the Black Iron Legion.

"Hey Naruto you're all done with the job huh? And who is this?"

"Oh her names Asuna and I saved her after she got into a fight with that boss in that whole scam."

Everyone nodded before they told Asuna to relax as they got the guys who were spreading that rumor around, Asuna nodded and decided to take a corner where she sat down and held her legs close to her body.

Soon enough it was night time and food was being made in the back by a couple of players who when distributing points decided to put some points into cooking so they were the ones assigned to cook up whatever they could.

Everyone else was just lazing around doing whatever they could to pass the time since they would be going to fight the boss in a day or two depending on the situation with the scouting party, if they found the boss room then they would immediately be marching off to battle.

Asuna felt a nudge on her shoulder and looking up she could see Naruto holding a cup of steaming liquid in front of her.

"Here drink this I think it might cheer you up." Naruto offered.

Asuna accepted the cup and saw the liquid inside, it was brown and steaming hot.

"Hot chocolate courtesy of a couple of other players who came to visit and thank us for what we've done."

"Thanks." Asuna replied in a soft whisper before drinking it down.

To Asuna it felt warm and it did make her happy.

"Glad you enjoyed it if you're not busy then we could probably use some help."Suddenly there was another knock at the door so Naruto opened it to reveal an entire basket of food items and not just any food items they were some of the rarest food items in the game. Attached to it was a note that said.

"For players who continue to strive courtesy of Akihiko Kayaba."

'Kayaba...still it is food and it would be a shame to waste it.' Naruto tore off the message and brought the food inside.

"Waahh! Watch out!"

"No don't do that you'll ruin the food!"

All the commotion was coming from the back so Naruto stepped in to see plates of ruined mush.

"Ok what is going on?" He asked.

"Looks like dinners ruined." A guy depressingly replied.

"Don't worry someone just made a delivery earlier." Naruto plopped down the ingredients in front of everyone and in an instant their eyes widened.

"Naruto where did you get these ingredients cause I don't think any of us can cook this stuff."

"I know but could you guys try?" The cooks looked down their confidence was a little shot.

Suddenly from behind someone tapped Naruto's shoulder.

Turning around Naruto saw Asuna confidence blazing in her eyes. "Don't worry Naruto leave everything in my hands."

"Huh?"

Asuna pushed everyone out of the kitchen and closed the curtain locking everyone out.

Soon enough Asuna opened the curtains and out came everything that was in the basket perfectly cooked.

"Wow!" Everyone claimed as they gathered around the food, their mouths watering.

"Asuna how did you do this?" Naruto asked while everyone just listened on in.

"I just tapped the dishes with the knife and they perfectly cut themselves up so please enjoy it's the least I can do." Everyone nodded and grabbed their plates to start eating.

Once the food was grabbed everyone split off into their separate groups Naruto, Strea and Tarkus sat with each other and Asuna decided to join them as well.

"So Asuna I was wondering could we see your skills?"

"Um how do I show them?" she asked getting huge looks of surprise from everyone around.

"You mean you don't know about your own skills?" Asuna sadly shook her head, so with Naruto's instructions Asuna opened her skill menu and everyone saw that her cooking skill was pretty high and so was her speed.

"So I guess that explains how you were able to cook huh?" Joked Naruto getting a laugh out of everyone. "Still I have to ask why did you increase it?"

"I don't know what you mean Naruto...I just pressed the button that said random."

Once again everyone sweat dropped since Asuna survived purely due to speed and a huge chunk of luck all things considered.

"Eh well let's talk less and do more eating we may never get to eat like this again." It took a moment for Strea's words to sink in and the mood dampened immensely. "Ah I'm sorry I didn't mean to say such things."

Naruto placed a hand on Strea's shoulder to comfort her. "Hey listen don't worry about it Strea..."

A moment of silence was spread throughout the entire house when it was suddenly broken by Tarkus who had his glassed raised. "To the fallen-"

Naruto raised his glass following Tarkus. "We raise our glasses-"

"Remembering their sacrifice-" Asuna continued raising her glass.

"And continuing to fight for what they died for." Finished Strea.

"Amen." Everyone else called out as they raised their glasses and drank it down in one gulp.

The meal was a silent one but at the same time it was most appreciated.

[Timeskip]

Scouts had returned from their mission and they had successfully mapped out the entire boss level so with the greatest army of players ever organized all front liners proceeded towards the boss room.

Knights of the blood oath players stood shoulder to shoulder with Divine Dragon Alliance players, Aincrad Liberation Force players stood side by side with Black Iron Legion members and none of these players argued.

They knew what the goal was and they were all willing to work together to defeat this boss clearing one quarter of the game and bringing them one step closer to finally beating the game. With Commander Oscar leading this battle they were not going to fail.

Fighting through the dungeon thousand of players gathered in front of the boss room door.

"Players today we will clear the 25th floor and prove that nothing will stop us!"

"Yeah!"

"So let's do this!" Commander Oscar swung open both doors and took the first step inside lighting the entire stage up.

Quickly players filed in and took their battle positions, slowly with careful eyes the players moved forward.

"Where is the boss? " A player asked.

Suddenly on the other side of field there was a strange cry as the sound of thundering footsteps came closer.

"Everyone form up!" Oscar commanded as the ranks opened up allowing him a place to enter.

"Hragh!" The Black Iron Legion brought their shields down and held their positions while the other guilds prepared for Commander Oscar to give the order to break.

That thundering footsteps grew closer and finally the players could see that their opponents was an opposing army of lesser size but still as threatening.

"Hold firm!" Black Iron Legion Players clenched up tightening their defenses.

As the opposing army got closer Naruto saw them perform some weird movements with their hands and his eyes widened. "Break! We have to break formation now!"

However it was too late as their opponent finished whatever he was doing and from the ground below the first line of player's spikes shot up throwing that group of players into the air, behind their own lines where they crashed into other players.

Another warrior quickly approached and he did something that caused a huge burst of water to come forth from his hands throwing the second line of players as well as the remaining disoriented 1st line of players tumbling backwards.

The scene turned into complete chaos as Oscar tried to organize an effective resistance but it was thrown apart when the remaining warriors charged straight for the gap in their defenses.

Naruto fought off one warrior when he realized what was going on. 'Their using magic? But how the game doesn't have a magic system!'

Naruto kicked a warrior but he jumped over him and was floating? "Shit now they can fly!"

Naruto dove out of the way when a fireball came flying his way, he stood back up and found his back to Asuna.

"So was this part of the plan Naruto-san?"

"Uh well sometime you have to improvise!" Naruto grabbed the foot of a warrior and pulled him down before delivering a drop kick. "And throw everything out of the window in favor of something that works."

"Naruto duck!" Naruto hit the ground and just in time as Asuna pierced her sword into the chest of another warrior.

"Good eye there thanks Asuna."

"Don't mention it Naruto."

Naruto picked himself up and rejoined both Strea and Tarkus who were wounded but they were still able to fight, just in case Naruto took out some potions for all of them to heal up.

"Thanks." All of them replied before downing the potions.

Once Strea was done she looked around and saw that the guilds were begging in to reorganize themselves and started to push the enemy back.

She narrowed her eyes and she noticed that there was someone at the very back it had much more health than everything else.

She pulled on Naruto getting him to look. "Hey Naruto look over there!"

Naruto saw it and nodded. "Then come on let's go and get him."

Strea, Asuna and Tarkus nodded. Charging through the battlefield Naruto and gang arrived in front of the enemy and they saw his name as Master scout Alex.

[Play Tales of Xillia 2 Final boss theme]

Naruto and Tarkus decided to team up so as to take him, Naruto dashed forward and met Alex mid-way there he fought against Alex matching him blow for blow for one of his thrusts Naruto back-stepped at the last moment and warped behind him.

Alex confused by what happened didn't know what hit him when Takrus rammed him with the black iron shield sending him tumbling backwards towards Naruto in a complete daze.

With quick successive strikes Naruto landed multiple blows that fully drained part of his health, flipping backwards Naruto and Tarkus switched allowing Asuna and Strea to enter the battlefield.

For their formation Strea represented the power so she went forward first and slashed Alex switching out for Asuna allowed Asuna to place some very well timed stabs into Alex's body.

And for the girls finale the both of them stabbed their swords into Alex sending him flying all the way to the back of the battlefield.

The four of them regathered and saw that Alex had finally picked himself up this time he didn't seem very happy as his eyes glowed with power.

"We should back away now!" But it was too late as Alez's eyes exploded with power throwing Naruto and gang back.

Looking back Alex had transformed himself into some kind of elemental monster water surrounded his entire body, wind surrounded his body forming a shield of some sorts, fire blazed from certain parts of his body and chunks of earth were circling about in his palm.

Each step Alex took towards the players caused the ground beneath him to crack. "Roooaarrr!"

"We should fall back." Naruto suggested but instead Asuna dashed forward unfearing of Alex's newfound power. "Asuna! Shit!"

Naruto picked himself up and ran after said girl.

Alex noticed Asuna heading straight for him and fired off multiple waves of wind but Asuna managed to maneuver through all of them only losing her cloak in the process.

"Take this!" She cried out as she stabbed Alex multiple times sending him crying out in pain.

However as soon as Alex stopped crying out in pain it reached forward and tried to grab a hold of Asuna only for Naruto to come in at the last moment and toss her out of the way.

Alex grabbed a hold of Naruto's leg and formed a sphere containing all of the elements and blasted Naruto with their combined power, once done Alex tossed Naruto off to the side with barely enough health to survive.

"Naruto!" Strea ran up to Naruto along with Tarkus while Alex turned his attention onto the forces of the alliance.

"Naruto wake up!" Strea shook Naruto and got a cough out of him.

"I'm fine is Asuna alright?" He asked and Asuna came by and nodded. "That's good but now we still have a fight to finish."

Naruto took out a potion and downed it in one gulp, once his health was brought up he stood up confidently. "Let's finish this fight!"

"Yeah!" All four of them dashed back to Alex who was now being help at bay by the leaders of each guild.

As they were running the unknown skill in Naruto, Strea's and Tarkus's menu unlocked itself.

And Tarkus dashed forward faster than Naruto, he threw his shield to the side and held his sword with two hands, his sword began to glow and unusual color and he swung it knocking Alex into the air jumping up preparing to deliver a stab straight into Alex's chest.

"Tiger Blade Sigma!" Tarkus cried out as the image of a tiger appeared around his sword just before he stabbed Alex.

When Alex landed on the ground with a cloud of dust he flipped himself up almost immediately but now it was Strea's turn, she ran forward and her blade glowed with the same color as Tarkus's.

"Take this SoulStroke combination!" Wielding her sword with one hand Strea performed multiple slashes in quick succession sending Alex tumbling backwards further.

Naruto noticed his knuckles glowing green and so he allowed the system to guide him dashing forward Naruto landed one strike on to Alex that sent him up into the air. Following him up Naruto hit him with a flurry of punches of rapid punches each one sending shockwaves out before finally dashing and appearing behind Alex his foot aimed and ready to take him down. "Final Furrrryyyy!"

Naruto drove his foot into the back of Alex with a great cry. Alex cried out in pain as he and Naruto fell to the ground.

Alex crashed to the ground with a huge cry of pain and his health was all depleted making him shatter into bits of data.

For a moment there was nothing but silence which was when everyone in the room broke out in cheers and a huge banner appeared saying that they had cleared the 25th floor.

Naruto took several gasps of air which was when he was suddenly tackled by Strea who hugged him close to her chest, she was jumping about in joy.

"Alright Strea that's enough." Tarkus stated as he pried Naruto away from her, Strea realized what she did and blushed. "So come on Naruto put it here good job."

"Hey you didn't too bad yourself." Naruto high-fived Tarkus and once Strea calmed down she got a high-five as well.

"Asuna!" Naruto called out as he walked up to her. "Hey listen good job out there today maybe we'll meet each other again huh?"

Suddenly there was the sound of a bell ringing in the entire hall this bell was the same kind that rang on the first day of launch.

Suddenly from out of the blue Akihiko Kayaba appeared once more.

"Welcome all players to the 25th floor of Sword Arte Online EX I applaud your efforts to reach this level."

"Kayaba..." Naruto hissed out.

"What is he doing here?"

"Is something going to happen?"

"As of this moment Sword Arte online shall now evolve past the point of simple swords for certain players you shall wield the power of flight and magic while other players shall wield the power of spirit that shall reawaken. I shall await all of you at your next hurdle in Alfheim now fly you fools." Kayaba disappeared just as the ground underneath everyone started to crumble sending people falling into a dark abyss below.

Naruto didn't know what to do but suddenly he felt Asuna grab a hold of his hand and he just held her hand as all of them disappeared into the abyss below them.

**Arc 1 SAO End...**

**So that was that now I've set up a poll to decide who is better purely from a design perspective. Asuna or Strea now if you guys could please go and vote for your favorite design?**

**Other than that thanks for reading and do leave plenty of reviews as next time we soar to the Great Tree in Arc 2.**


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